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MBA Students Participate in Big Ten + Case Competition

MBA Students Participate in Big Ten + Case Competition
The Nebraska team from left to right: Kevin Busick, Joel Bugayong, Sarah Goodrich and Chad Kilpatrick.
Four graduate students from the College of Business at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to participate in the Big Ten + Case Competition, hosted by The Ohio State University Fischer College of Business on April 1.
 
Master of business administration (MBA) students Joel Bugayong of Atchison, Kansas; Kevin Busick of Wheeling, West Virginia; Sarah Goodrich of Austin, Texas; and Chad Kilpatrick of Omaha, Nebraska, had 24 hours to prepare a 25-minute presentation for Columbus-based company Integrated Building Products (IBP).
 
Upon arrival in Columbus, the MBA students participated in a networking dinner with competing teams, Fischer College of Business faculty and staff, and IBP executives. At the time, teams were unaware that IBP was the prospective client.
 
“The opportunity to network with the executive management team of IBP, along with the faculty, staff and students from the Fischer College of Business and fellow MBA students from across the Big Ten, made for a professionally fulfilling event,” said Bugayong, the graduate assistant in the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship.
 
The following morning, the client was officially revealed as IBP and students were tasked to find growth opportunities for the firm, both organically and entry to new adjacent product or service lines, and/or new locations. After 24-hours, the Nebraska Business students presented to a panel of judges made up of the executive management team at IBP. Following the presentations, the judges provided constructive criticism for each team and individual.
 
“As an online student, it was nice to meet and work face-to-face with my classmates. Also, the individual feedback we received was very valuable and helped me gain perspective as to how our presentation could have been improved or modified,” said Busick, who works as a controller for a government contractor in Morgantown, West Virginia.
 
The Nebraska College of Business participates in the Big Ten + Case Competition annually at The Ohio State University, the founding host. Nebraska MBA students must formally apply and are selected from a pool of qualified candidates every year.
 
“For me it was a humbling and rewarding experience to meet with and compete against the best-of-the-best in the Big Ten. It was a phenomenal experience and I am thankful that I was able to represent the Nebraska College of Business,” said Kilpatrick, who works as a recruitment manager at the university’s Office of Admissions.
 
To learn more about the Nebraska MBA program, visit: business.unl.edu/mba
Published: May 9, 2017